An absorbent article, such as a paper diaper, is designed to be developed using a hook-and-loop fastener so as to be attachable to and detachable from a human body. The hook-and-loop fastener includes a female member and a male member, and these members are mutually connected to and separated from each other by engagement and disengagement therebetween. In the male member, an engagement surface including a group of multiple projections (hooks) is formed, while the female member employs a nonwoven with which the group of projections can engage. Patent Literatures 1 to 3 disclose conventional examples of a female member in a hook-and-loop fastener.
Patent Literature 1 (JP-A 11-335960) discloses a female member employing an embossed air-through nonwoven whose main fiber has a length of 30 mm to 100 mm. Specifically, the nonwoven is embossed in a direction which intersects with a MD direction across the entire width to have an elongation percentage of 75% or less when weighted in a CD direction by 2N/25 mm, and a thickness of 0.4 mm or more. The fibers constituting the air-through nonwoven form a layer structure in which the fibers are basically two-dimensionally arranged to form each layer, and in which the fibers are fused to be bonded with one another. In other words, the embossing is performed in a pattern that intersects with the MD direction in which a number of fibers are arranged. Thereby, the fiber layers are fused and integrated to strengthen the connection between the fibers and to make the fibers less fluffy.
Patent Literature 2 (JP-A 06-33359) discloses a female member made in a following manner. Specifically, a spunbonded nonwoven is placed on a heat-shrinkable fabric web and integrated therewith, and thereafter the fiber web is contracted by thermal processing to form 2 to 40 wrinkles per cm2 on the spunbonded nonwoven, the wrinkles each having a depth of 0.2 mm to 3 mm. In the spunbonded nonwoven, endless fibers two-dimensionally arranged are securely fused by thermal embossing or the like. Accordingly, the spunbonded nonwoven has a characteristic of being unlikely to be fluffy. When the heat-shrinkable fiber web having its lower layer side integrated with the spunbonded nonwoven is thermally contracted, a number of wrinkles are formed in the spunbonded nonwoven, and the wrinkles allow the female member to engage with the female member.
Patent Literature 3 (JP-A 11-152669) discloses that loops of a fiber bundle are formed in a heat-nonshrinkable fiber layer in the following manner. Specifically, a heat-shrinkable fiber layer is stacked on the heat-nonshrinkable fiber layer, and then a high-pressure fluid is ejected onto the layered body to interlace the fibers with one another while rearranging the fibers so as to obtain a perforated nonwoven. Thereafter, the heat shrinkable fiber layer is contracted with a thermal treatment to form the loops of a fiber bundle in the heat-nonshrinkable fiber layer. With such processes, curled objects projecting in random directions are formed.